Leap Year
by Compucles
Summary: The last thing Ranma remembers is getting ready to go to China to stop the Phoenix invasion of Jusendo. Now, he discovers that a whole year has passed without any memory of what has occurred, including his marriage to Akane. Ranma must solve the mystery, while Akane has to handle a less mature version of her husband who once again insults her and has yet to admit his love.
1. Confusion

**Leap Year**

**Disclaimer: **"Ranma 1/2" is owned by Rumiko Takahashi. Only the Japanese could come up with a series this weird.

**Formatting Notes:** Double quotes indicate spoken dialogue, while single quotes indicate thoughts. Italics indicate flashbacks. I'm not very familiar with Japanese honorifics, so I won't be using them except in the cases of Ranma's and Ukyo's childhood nicknames for each other and of course the name of Ukyo's restaurant. I will also be using English translations for most terms except for the technique names that are left untranslated in the animé. As for the Amazon names, the naming theme can't be a coincidence (as with the Musk naming theme). I feel that the Chinese Amazons purposely name their children after the English words for hygiene products and then write the names as the closest Chinese equivalent. Therefore, they will have the same names even when speaking to each other in Chinese in the context of the story. As for gender pronouns when referring to Ranma, the narration will refer to Ranma by his current form, while the other characters (except the Kuno siblings) will think of him as male and speak of him as male, unless they have some reason to hide his curse at a point when he's female.

**Continuity Notes:** This story takes place a year after the end of the manga. I am ignoring all changes and filler from the animé.

**Chapter 1: Confusion**

Ranma Saotome woke up from a good night's sleep ready to embark on another dangerous mission in his life as a half-crazed, super-human martial artist stuck with a gender-flipping curse in the middle of a love dodecagon. A few days ago, he had rescued the Jusenkyo Guide's daughter, Plum, from a band of winged warriors from the Phoenix Tribe. Unfortunately, they had later succeeded in brainwashing and kidnapping Shampoo as well completing their mission of stealing the map of Jusendo of which Plum had been entrusted. Now, the safety of the cursed springs and their very source were in danger. Today, Ranma would be setting out with Plum and the other cursed Jusenkyo victims in Nerima to rescue Shampoo and save the magic of Jusenkyo from falling into the wrong hands.

As Ranma contemplated this mission with his eyes still closed, he became aware of two very odd things. The first was that he was not lying on his normal futon but in a bed. Even stranger, he was not alone but was lying side-by-side with another person. He opened his eyes and turned his head to face his unknown bunkmate. Surprise quickly followed by fear went through his emotional state as he realized that he was in Akane's bed next to Akane herself. Even worse, she was also awake and looking right at him.

Ranma immediately evacuated his position in the bed, getting tangled in the sheets as he fell to the floor. As he untangled himself, he tried desperately to claim his innocence, a gesture he knew from long experience wouldn't matter to his mallet-happy fiancee, especially since his ignorance of what had occurred didn't provide any kind of reasonable explanation even if she were willing to listen to one. "Wait, Akane! It's not what it looks like! I have no idea how I wound up in here. It's not my fault!"

He braced himself for the yelling and the beating that were sure to follow, but they surprisingly never came. He looked up to see a confused look on Akane's face, who was strangely dressed only in her underwear rather than the pajamas she normally wore to bed. "What are you talking about, dear? What isn't your fault?"

Ranma knew Akane could be dense, particularly about P-Chan, but this was flat out baffling. Her response had been so unexpected that he had completely missed the term of endearment she had used for him. As he stood there stunned, Akane had walked around him to the other side of the room and somehow returned with a fresh pair of his clothes. As she handed them to him, she asked, "Are you okay? You seem a little out of it this morning. Why don't you go start taking your bath to clear your head?"

Unable to come up with any idea of what could be happening, Ranma decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and took the clothes with him as he executed the Saotome School Final Attack to retreat to the bathroom. He made sure the occupied sign was in place and removed the undershirt and boxers he had worn to bed. He placed these dirty clothes in the hamper and entered the main bathing area, where he found Kasumi had already prepared the bathtub.

Shaking his head to clear it after the morning's strange events, he filled a bucket with cold water to rinse himself and was about to pour it on himself when the bathroom door opened. Akane walked in with a towel in her hand, wearing absolutely nothing but a smile. Ranma almost dropped the bucket in surprise. He placed the bucket on the stool and dropped his hands in an attempt to preserve his modesty. With great willpower, he forced his eyes up to her face. "What do ya think you're doin'?" he asked in a startled tone. "I know I put the sign up."

Akane just giggled and replied, "Oh, Ranma. Don't be so shy. There's no need for modesty between us." Up to this point, Ranma thought there might still be some sort of rational explanation, but all logic flew out the window at what Akane did next. She walked right up to him, pulled his hands apart, and took a good lustful look at what they had been covering. She then wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Ranma was now forcing himself not to panic, as his body had no trouble reacting to the intimate contact.

Akane broke the kiss, apparently confused as to why he wasn't kissing her back. "You must be stressed about something, aren't you?" she guessed. "We can come back to our bath, but right now I think we should go back to bed so I can relieve your stress the fun way," she purred.

Ranma's brain was about to overload, as even he could recognize the innuendo in the suggestion, but he had to make sure. He cleared his throat and nervously stated in a quiet voice, "Please don't take this the wrong way, but it sounded like you just asked me to have sex with you."

Akane just smirked and replied, "Well, you don't have to be so blunt about it, but yes, you look like you could use some relaxation sex." She began pulling him towards the bathroom door.

Ranma was now in full panic mode. He let off a little scream and quickly poured the bucket of cold water he had previously prepared over both of them, invoking his curse and eliminating the immediate danger of what Akane had proposed. Akane let go and stared at him with a blank look on her face. Ranma didn't even bother trying to dry herself, as she raced out of the changing room and quickly got dressed before heading downstairs to look for help.

* * *

The rest of the Tendo-Saotome household was already up and eating breakfast when a panicked, dripping wet female Ranma came running down the stairs shouting, "Help! Something's wrong with Akane! We have ta do something!"

Fearing for the safety of his youngest daughter, Soun quickly stood up and asked, "What's wrong, son?"

Ranma took a few seconds to catch her breath and responded, "Someone's placed her under some kind a spell. Normally, I'd suspect Cologne or Kodachi, but they'd never do _this_ to her unless they somehow botched it up." In his panic, he didn't notice Nabiki's frown at his mention of Cologne. "Don't get upset, Mr. Tendo. Nothing happened, but Akane somehow carried me all the way to her room and shared her bed with me without managing to wake me up. Then, she followed me naked into the bathroom, embraced and kissed me. Finally," Ranma gulped before continuing, "she actually asked me for sex. I had to splash myself to get away."

Whatever reaction Ranma had been expecting, this was near the bottom of the list. Soun simply sighed and sat back down, while everyone else looked at him with worried looks as if he was the one who had gone crazy. "Gee," Nabiki began in a sarcastic voice, "you'd think you had married the girl or something."

Missing the intended point, Ranma fell back into her usual pattern as she responded, "Me? Marry that uncute, macho tomboy? Why would I do that? She can't cook. She's built like a brick. She's..." She suddenly felt an angry battle aura. "...standing right behind me, isn't she?" Everyone else looked shocked as they nodded. Ranma slowly turned around to see an extremely mad Akane in a bathrobe. "Ranma, you jerk!" she shouted as she pulled her trademark weapon out of malletspace and pounded her into the floor several times.

Despite the pain, Ranma was finally getting a sense of normality from the strange morning until he saw Akane burst out crying and run back upstairs. She frowned in concern as she slowly pulled herself to her feet. She never could stand to see Akane cry, and knowing that she had been responsible for it this time made it even worse. "Well, that's new," she commented. "It's not like she's never heard me insult her before."

The others continued to stare at her until Nodoka finally broke the silence. "If this some kind of joke, you've taken it way too far. It's not very manly for you to act this way, especially with what you just said to Akane."

Kasumi chimed in. "Auntie Nodoka, I don't think it is a joke. Ranma wouldn't purposely hurt Akane like that. I think something strange happened to him. It's not like we haven't all seen our share of weirdness."

Ranma cut in. "Whaddya mean somethin' happened ta me? Akane's the one who's throwin' herself at me."

"Ranma, sit down and talk with us," Kasumi ordered sternly. Ranma quickly obeyed, having rarely seen this side of Kasumi. "Now, where to start..." she wondered out loud.

"I've got it," Nabiki said. "What is your name, your quest, and your favorite color?"

Ranma chuckled at the Monty Python reference and answered, "My name is Ranma Saotome, son of Genma and Nodoka Saotome. My quests are to carry on the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts and cure my Jusenkyo curse. My favorite color is red."

Nabiki nodded, finding no inaccuracies in those answers. She pressed on with the important question, "What is your relationship with my sister Akane?"

Still not understanding where this was going, Ranma gave his response. "Akane Tendo is my friend and my arranged fiancee according to an agreement between Pop and Mr. Tendo to join the two branches of our school." Although not unexpected considering her earlier behavior, this response once again set up a large staring contest in the room.

Nabiki thought for a moment about what her next question should be. Maybe recent events in Ranma's memory held the key. "What do you remember doing yesterday?"

Ranma replied, "Well, I went to the Cat Café with Pop where the old ghoul split the Jusendo map we've been guardin' among a bunch of us to keep it safe from the Phoenix People. Unfortunately, they brainwashed Shampoo into stealin' the pieces from us and took off with her as well. That reminds me. I don't have time to play 20 Questions. Me an' Pop need to pack and go after 'em to China."

Everyone's jaw dropped at this answer. Nabiki quickly recovered and asked her final question to confirm her theory. "Ranma, one last question. This is going to sound silly, but I need you to answer it, anyway. What year is it?"

Ranma was growing frustrated. Why were they asking these stupid question when the very fate of both Shampoo and Jusenkyo lay in the balance, and Akane was under some kind of lust spell? Hoping to finally move on to more important issues, she answered the question only to hear a room full of gasps.

Now that she understood what was going on in Ranma's head, Nabiki began to explain. "Ranma, that was _last_ year. Your battle against the Phoenix People already happened a year ago. Don't worry, you won, although you obviously weren't able to cure your curse while you were there. Somehow, you've lost your memories of the last year."

Ranma's face went pale at this explanation. 'This can't be true,' she thought. 'She has ta be makin' it up.' "That still doesn't explain why Akane was actin' all weird," he countered.

"Well, you see," continued Nabiki. "After you left for China, one of those phoenix warriors came back and kidnapped Akane, dragging her into the mess. You and the others never did give us all the details, but something happened there between the two of you that caused a turning point in your relationship. After that, the two of you gradually got along better and better and eventually started dating. Four months ago, the two of you got married, not because of the agreement between our families but because you both wanted to out of love."

Ranma was now completely stunned. She knew she deeply cared for Akane and secretly did have romantic feelings for her, although she wasn't sure if she was actually in love with her. However, this was just too much for her to handle. Her brain switched into denial mode in an effort to salvage what was left of her mind. "Ha, ha, very funny guys, but we've got a serious situation on our hands. Pop, if you ain't gonna help, then I'll go see if Mousse is ready. I've gotta get outta this madhouse, anyway." She ran out of the house and into the streets of Nerima, praying that this was all just one huge practical joke.

* * *

**Author's Notes: ** I probably shouldn't have started another story so soon, but this idea came to me, and I just had to get started on it. This one won't be as complex or as long, though, and I'll also be aiming for shorter chapters.

Nabiki Tendo is currently standing by, taking bets on the cause of Ranma's memory loss. Anyone care to wager a guess?


	2. Amnesia

**Chapter 2: Amnesia**

Ranma tried not to think about what she had just heard as she hopped across the roofs of Nerima. It had to be a huge practical joke. It just had to be, otherwise- no, she couldn't bear to consider the alternative.

Before long, she reached the location of the Cat Café and jumped to the ground in front of it. Her eyes went wide. "No!" she shouted in shock. "It can't be true!" In front of her stood what was left of the Cat Café, its windows boarded up along with other signs that the property hadn't been properly maintained for months. On the front lawn was a sign that said "For Lease."

Ranma quickly grabbed the next person who walked by, a middle-aged man in a business suit. "Hey mister, there usta be a Chinese Restaurant here called the Cat Café. What happened to it and its owners. The man gulped as he looked into the serious eyes of the wet girl holding him in a vice grip and felt he'd better answer the question for his own safety. "Well m-miss, the place closed down all of a sudden about four months ago. I heard the owner and the others went back to China. It's a shame, as they made good ramen, and they were always full of surprises."

Ranma released the man and just stood there with a horrified look on her face. 'They went back to China months ago? That means I really am in the future. The only reason for the old ghoul to give up and leave would be if she had already lost, and four months ago was when they said...that means I really am married to Akane.'

Ranma stomach started getting nervous at the fact that she was married. She couldn't deny to herself that Akane was very special to her, but marriage? She just wasn't ready for that. Her queasiness increased as the thought occurred to her that she was certainly no longer a virgin and had likely done it with Akane dozens of times by now. Sure, she wanted that kind of relationship someday and had had a few interesting dreams starring Akane on the subject, but Ranma had always been extremely shy and nervous when it came to her physical attraction to girls, although she didn't show it like Ryoga did. It scared her to think of touching Akane or any other girl that way. She wasn't ready for that, either.

'Well, I can't just stand here, and I can't face everyone at home. Not yet. Ucchan will be able to help me sort things out.' With a sigh, she made her way over to the familiar okonomiyaki restaurant, hoping that Ukyo hadn't also left when she had lost out in the Ranma fiancee sweepstakes.

* * *

"...Sure thing, Miss Tendo. Ukyo and I will talk to him if he comes here. Bye." Konatsu hung up the phone in the kitchen at Ucchan's and went back to the main serving room to pick up the next order.

"Who was that, Konatsu-honey?" asked Ukyo as she worked the grill.

"That was Nabiki Tendo. Apparently, this town is still a huge chaos magnet. She said we need to watch out for-"

Konatsu was cut off as Ukyo saw her best friend walk in through the door. She was in her female form, soaking wet, and looking depressed. While the first two weren't unusual, the third one was, especially with how happy she had been for the last few months. "Ranma-honey, what's wrong?!" She reminded herself of something and continued. "Sorry, I mean Ranchan. I keep forgetting I'm not supposed to call you that anymore. Anyway, I haven't seen you for a while, and now that you're here, you look terrible. Is the honeymoon over already?" At the mention of the word "honeymoon," Ranma winced. 'Something definitely happened with Akane,' concluded Ukyo in her mind. "Do you want to talk about it, sugar?"

Ranma sighed. "That is why I came here, after all."

"So what stupid thing did you say to her this time?" asked Ukyo with a smirk.

"Um, Miss Ukyo, you need to be aware of something," interrupted Konatsu, as he started heating up a kettle.

"Konatsu-honey, how many times do I need to tell you to just call me Ukyo? Still, it's sweet that you're so polite." She gave the cross-dressing kunoichi a kiss on the cheek. Konatsu blushed, while Ranma's jaw dropped a little in surprise.

"As I was saying," Konatsu continued. "Miss Tendo was calling to warn us that Ranma ran off after discovering that he's lost all his memories of the last year."

Ukyo gasped. "Ranchan, is this true? No wonder you look so unhappy."

"Well, from my point of view, it's like I've skipped a year into the future, but yeah, it's true. I didn't want ta believe it, but when I saw what was left of the Cat Café, I couldn't deny it anymore."

Ukyo shook her head. "I can't imagine what that's like. Still, at least it's only a year. It'll take some time, but you should be able to adjust."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Ranma. "Yesterday, Akane was just a friend who was difficult ta get along with. Today, I wake up in bed with the tomboy with her tryin' ta seduce me."

Ukyo's hands flew to cover her wide open mouth. "In the words of Kasumi, oh my! I hadn't thought about that. You're right. A year ago, you and Akane were still in denial about your feelings, while Shampoo, Kodachi, and I were still chasing after you. It can't be easy to accept that you're all of a sudden married."

"You're tellin' me!" exclaimed Ranma. "I'm really scared. I really like Akane, and this proves that I can fall in love with her and that she loves me, but I ain't ready for this. I can't just all of a sudden go from insultin' her to makin' out and -gulp- sleepin' with her. I need ta find a way to get my memories back."

Ukyo smiled. "Don't worry, Ranchan, we'll help you out anyway we can, but you need to consider the possibility that you're stuck this way. You need to figure out how to make things work with Akane if it comes to that. I didn't give you up just to let you screw up your marriage over a case of partial amnesia."

"Yeah, you're right. I need ta fix my relationship with her," agreed Ranma. "I did it once, and I can do it again."

"That's the spirit," replied Ukyo as she handed him the now heated kettle of water. "Why don't you change back into a guy, and I can fill you in on a few things."

Ranma poured the water over herself and turned male once again. "Thanks, Ucchan. So what's up with you an' Konatsu now?"

Ukyo blushed. "Well, when you started going out with Akane, and make no mistake, I was really mad at you for a while, I knew you had made your choice. Shampoo and Cologne tried everything they could right up to your wedding day, while Kodachi still thinks she can save you from the 'Tendo harlot who snared you,' but I couldn't do that to either you or Akane. Once I realized that you were out of my reach, I started to realize how much Konatsu really cared for me, and I eventually fell for him as well. A couple months ago, we got engaged." She giggled as she held out her right hand and showed off the diamond ring on her finger.

"That's great, Ucchan. I'm glad ya found someone." Ranma smiled for the first time since coming in. "But how'd your dad take it when I married Akane instead a you? He didn't disown ya or nothin', did he?"

"Oh, no," Ukyo replied. "He's not obsessed with his honor like a certain childhood friend of mine who still hasn't told his wife the truth about her pet pig." Ranma's face went white at the implication that Ryoga was still taking advantage of Akane in his cursed form. Ukyo chuckled at his reaction. "Don't worry. You and Ryoga came to an understanding about his inappropriate behavior. Besides, it's not like Akane still wants to take P-Chan to bed with her now that she's got you to keep her company." She winked at him as he relaxed with reddened cheeks.

"Anyway," Ukyo continued, "once I had explained that you were an ignorant victim in the whole mess and had instead chosen to marry the girl that you both loved and had a even older agreement with, my father agreed that I only needed to provide your father with an appropriate punishment."

Ranma raised his eyebrows curiously. "What didja do to 'im? I didn't notice anything when I saw him this morning."

Ukyo grinned. "Well, it's not something that's easy to notice. There's this annual American contest called the Darwin Award, given posthumously to the one who shows the most stupidity when accidentally killing him or herself, thereby removing said stupidity from the gene pool. They also make exceptions when the 'victim' survives but has lost the ability to reproduce. I got your father nominated for this year's award."

Ranma started laughing. "It serves the idiot right after all he's put me through over the years. How exactly didja pull it off?"

Ukyo started laughing herself as the memories returned to her. "Well, I told you to bring your father and Dr. Tofu by the restaurant, insisting that Mr. Saotome be in his human form. I didn't tell you what I was planning in case you tried to stop me out of any concern you still had left for the idiot panda. Outside the front door, I had a wooden block set up with a circular hole. I considered using a second hole placed a little higher, but I didn't want to punish your mother over her husband's crimes. So anyway, as I saw you coming, I placed a bottle of sake next to it and went back inside to watch from the window. I had a sign proclaiming the contraption to be a training device for a male martial artist to protect himself from one of his biggest weaknesses with a free bottle of sake for those who went through the training. Your father couldn't resist, as he followed the simple instructions, pulled the lever, and..." Ukyo struggled to control her laughter. "...let's just say the French knew what they were doing when they invented the guillotine. Dr. Tofu was of course right there to perform first aid and then take him back to his clinic to patch him up. Genma knows it was me, but he couldn't prove it, and he was too embarrassed to press charges even if he could."

If Ranma had a modern cell phone and knew how to use it, he would've truthfully been able to text "ROTFLOL" at that moment. Finally managing to bring himself under control, he managed to stand up. "I have ta start teasin' him about not havin' the balls to do stuff or to grow a pair, although I'm sure I've already been doin' exactly that. Thanks for cheerin' me up, Ucchan. I think I'm ready ta go home and deal with this. I really need ta talk to Akane, as she was pretty mad at me when I left."

"It's no problem, Ranchan. I'm always willing to listen if you need someone else to talk to. Although I usually make you pay for your food now, here's one on the house." Ukyo flipped a just completed okonomiyaki onto a plate and handed it to Ranma. Ranma happily ate it and left to go back home.

* * *

As he approached the Tendo compound, he heard a familiar voice call out. "Ranma Saotome, how dare you treat Akane like that! Prepare to die!"

* * *

**Author's Notes:** I've read several stories with threats of what happened here to Genma, but nobody ever goes through with it. I decided it needed to actually happen for once.


	3. Heart Stamp

**Chapter 3: Heart Stamp**

_Earlier that morning..._

Akane Saotome sighed happily as she woke up next to her still sleeping husband. Last night, they had enjoyed themselves in bed once again. Losing their virginity on their wedding night had been pure bliss, and after four months of marriage, it still seemed to get better and better each time they did it. It had taken months of nearly constant bickering and insults to even start getting to where they were now, but it was all worth it in the end. The past four months had been the happiest in her life to date. Even the normal Nerima chaos that tended to follow them around had lessened and not just because most of their various extra suitors had finally been forced to give up. She hoped this didn't mean they were due for a large patch of trouble.

She was content to just lie there watching Ranma's sleeping form for several minutes until he woke up himself. That was when the inevitable trouble began. When Ranma finally opened his eyes and turned his head to face her, she saw not the contented smile she expected but a face full of surprise and shock. Even stranger was when he quickly stumbled out of bed and went into what his father called the "Crouch of the Wild Tiger." "Wait, Akane! It's not what it looks like! I have no idea how I wound up in here. It's not my fault!" he stammered as if he had some reason to believe that he had done something wrong.

Akane was confused. What could he possibly have to apologize for? As far as she knew, everything had been perfect between them over at least the last few days. "What are you talking about, dear? What isn't your fault?" she asked, trying to figure out what had made her husband so jumpy this morning.

Ranma was speechless and just sat there stunned as if he thought she was the one acting weird. She took the opportunity to go to their dresser and pick out a change of clothes for him. She wouldn't have let him do the same for her, but he really didn't care much about which outfits he wore each day, and they were all pretty similar anyway, at least where his male form was concerned. She handed the clothes to him and asked, "Are you okay? You seem a little out of it this morning. Why don't you go start taking your bath to clear your head?"

Ranma ran from the room without another word. At this point, Akane noticed another unusual thing about her husband's behavior. He had left the chain holding his wedding ring on the bedside table. Although he was unable to wear his ring on his finger like she did due to his curse, he always made sure he wore the chain around his neck tucked neatly inside his shirt, and it was his custom to take it with him to the bathroom to put on with his clothes after taking his morning bath. Hopefully he had simply forgotten it in the confusion of whatever was on his mind. She didn't want to think about why he would have purposely chosen not to take it.

* * *

She decided to forgo her usual morning jog and join Ranma in the bath to try and figure out what was bothering him. She quickly chose a set of clean clothing for herself and made her way to the bathroom, where her underwear quickly joined Ranma's in the hamper. She grabbed a towel and walked in to find Ranma about to use his initial rinse of cold water. She expected some surprise from him in seeing her ready to join him this morning, but his level of surprise was unexpected. His eyes went wide as his placed the rinse bucket he had been holding on the stool and positioned his hands strategically to cover his groin area. "What do ya think you're doin'? I know I put the sign up," he shouted.

Akane giggled as she recalled that despite all the times she had called him a pervert, she had later discovered that Ranma was actually pretty shy when it came to girls' bodies. She had done her best to help break him of his shy tendencies where they themselves were concerned over the last several months, but she still had some work to do. "Oh, Ranma. Don't be so shy. There's no need for modesty between us," she teased. She walked up to him and pulled his hands apart. 'D***, he looks good,' she thought as she gorged herself on the eye candy.

With one arm around his waist and the other around his neck, Akane nestled against her husband and pulled his head down to begin kissing him. His strange behavior only continued from there. Although she could feel a certain part of him poking at the inside of her thigh, this was the only romantic reaction he showed for her passion. He remained standing stiffly with his arms at his sides, and he refused to kiss her back. She broke away, not wanting to force her affection on him if he didn't want it right now.

Something was very wrong with him this morning, and she had no idea what it could possibly be. If she could just get him to relax, maybe she could convince him to open up to her about what was troubling him. Of course, as his wife, she had the ultimate means available to relax him. Surely he wouldn't turn down such a suggestion even in his troubled state of mind. "You must be stressed about something, aren't you?" she guessed. "We can come back to our bath, but right now I think we should go back to bed so I can relieve your stress the fun way," she purred.

Ranma's jaw dropped and his face went pale at these words. He cleared his throat and nervously stated in a quiet voice, "Please don't take this the wrong way, but it sounded like you just asked me to have sex with you."

'Well, of course I am,' thought Akane. 'Why else would we go back to bed together? But why does he look like he would rather do anything but that right now?' Out loud she replied, "Well, you don't have to be so blunt about it, but yes, you look like you could use some relaxation sex."

She tried to pull him towards the door in hopes that he would be more receptive once she got him back into the bedroom, but he simply freaked out on her instead. He screamed and soaked them both with the bucket of water he had prepared earlier, invoking his curse. Akane could only let go and stare in shock as the redheaded female form of the man she loved hurriedly left the room as he ran away in fear from her, his own wife. She dropped to her knees and began to sob, wondering what she could've done for Ranma to act so coldly towards her.

* * *

After about half a minute, she regained her composure and managed to quickly dry herself off. Rather than take the time to get dressed, she grabbed a bathrobe and headed downstairs to track down her wayward husband. She was going to ask him directly about his strange behavior and wouldn't let him go until he fully explained himself.

As she approached the tea room, she could hear Ranma already in conversation with the rest of the Tendo-Saotome clan. "Gee," Nabiki said in a sarcastic voice, "you'd think you had married the girl or something."

That was a strange comment to make, but she forgot all about it when Ranma's reply broke her heart in two. "Me? Marry that uncute, macho tomboy? Why would I do that? She can't cook. She's built like a brick." How? How could he? How could Ranma say those things about her? Sure, he had said similar things a long time ago, but that had been while they had both been strongly denying their feelings for each other. Ranma hadn't insulted her like that since before he had proposed. Even worse, he was actually claiming their marriage was a mistake. Did he really feel that way?

She allowed her anger and fury to build as she walked across the room to stand directly behind Ranma. Ranma couldn't help but notice it. "She's...," Ranma continued only to change stride mid-sentence. "...standing right behind me, isn't she?" Akane breathed heavily as she waited for Ranma to slowly turn around. She then released her anger once she saw the fear in Ranma's eyes. "Ranma, you jerk!" She pulled out a mallet and clobbered him several times. She would've dealt him even more punishment including a finishing blow on Akane Airlines if her grief hadn't bubbled over to overtake her anger. She couldn't hold it in any longer as she burst out crying and ran away.

* * *

Akane burst into the bedroom she shared, for now anyway, with Ranma. She didn't even bother to slam the door shut as she dove for the bed and pressed her face into a pillow as she continued to bawl like a baby.

It was worse than she had feared. Ranma's earlier behavior now made some sense. Somehow, he had fallen out of love with her. But how? How could it have happened in just one night? He had clearly been happy with their marriage just the night before. Maybe it was one of those "straws on the camel's back" situations. Was this somehow her fault? How could she have prevented this from happening?

After a few minutes, as she continued to let out her grief, she heard the voice of her pet pig P-Chan and looked up to see him enter the room. Managing to calm down a little, she sat up and called for him to come join her. He quickly ran over and jumped in her lap. Strangely, a few months earlier P-Chan had taken a sudden disliking to being held against her chest to the point where he had actually bitten her, so she just let him lie on her lap while she petted him.

"Oh, P-Chan," she began as she continued to sob. "I just don't know what to do. It's like Ranma doesn't love me anymore. I thought he was just feeling unaffectionate this morning, but then he insulted me and even said he hadn't wanted to marry me. How could he say those things now after all this time?" It seemed like P-Chan had actually understood her, as he suddenly gave an angry squeal and ran from the room.

As P-Chan left the room, Nodoka entered it. "Akane dear, are you alright?" she asked.

Akane continued to sob as she answered sadly, "No, of course I'm not alright. How would you feel if your husband just broke your heart out of nowhere."

Nodoka sat down next to her daughter-in-law and began rubbing her back. "We found out what's wrong with Ranma, and it's not as bad as you think it is. He sort of ran out on us himself, but once he gets back you need to talk to him and sort things out. He still cares for you just as much as he always has."

"Then why did he say those awful things about me?" asked Akane.

Nodoka sighed. "It's best if you hear it from him. Let's just say he's confused about some things right now. But don't worry. I know you two can work through this together. Just give him a chance."

Akane hugged the older woman who had become just as much a mother to her as she was to Ranma. "I guess I do owe that idiot an explanation. Thanks, Auntie Nodoka."

* * *

Once Akane managed to calm herself down some more, she took a bath and went downstairs to eat breakfast while she waited eagerly with everyone else for Ranma's return. Eventually, a loud shout came from the direction of the front gate: "Ranma Saotome, how dare you treat Akane like that! Prepare to die!" That was unmistakably Ryoga's voice, but how had he found out? Akane pushed the question to the back of her mind as she raced for the front door to keep Ryoga from killing her husband before he could explain himself.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Well, here we have the same morning from Akane's point of view, which takes place over the same time period as the first two chapters. The next chapter will pick up from where both this chapter and the previous one left off.

I'm using a naming theme for the chapter titles in this story. By this point, some of you should be able to figure it out. Give yourself a pat on the back if you know what it is.


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